A blog on blogs

It is clear to see that within the last 10 years there has been a rise in the 'linkless blogging culture' (Wakeford and Cohen 2008:311); this is due to information being made easier to share online and the increase in social networking. After just a simple google search of the top 100 blogs in the UK, I was surprised to see the variety of content, fashion, music, architecture and food to name but a few. The sociologist Frank Furedi, in his book 'Therapy culture: cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age' unpacks the society we live in today and our obsession with making the private public. He suggests that "The erosion of the boundary that separates the public from the private is one of the chief accomplishments of therapy culture" (Furedi 2004:5). This suggests that this lack of privacy in our lives is due to the progression of the society that we live in. 

http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/

The blog above is the most popular fashion blog in the UK; therefore it is has had the most views compared to other fashion blogs. The blog contains photography, reviews, articles and polls, which are all centred around fashion. The blog has many components making it user friendly, for example the layout is easy and simple to follow and the blog is also interactive. Making the blog interactive means that users can become involved with the blog, for example posting comments and interacting with other people who  have similar interests; this therefore enables a community to be formed. The reflects current trends at the time and is constantly updated to provide the latest in fashion news; this enables the viewer to become aware of the newest trends. It is evident that fashion and the way in which we look plays a key role in our society as we have become style and fashion conscious. 

 According to the sociologist C R Mills " the sociological imagination is the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society" (Mills 1959:3). This suggests that the wider society has influence on our experiences and the development of ourselves. This shows that society has taught us to become obsessed with the way we look. The blog also comments and rates on what celebrities are wearing this again reinforces the idea that fashion interests people, it also shows that celebrities can influence what people wear and their tastes and preferences when it comes to style. The blog also allows the user to connect with other social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, this means that the user can access more fashion related news and share posts with their friends; therefore again building up an online community and circle. It can be argued that this blog is aimed at a particular age group, the 20s - 30s woman, therefore it has a narrow audience.

Using blogs as a form of social research
 Like all social research methods, blogs have both advantages and disadvantages. Many researchers argue that blogs allow access to thoughts and feelings that have not been prompted by the researcher; therefore it is natural data. Blogs are a good research tool as they are constantly being updated to provide new material, this therefore enables the researcher to access up-to-date information. This is also useful for identifying patterns, shifts and correlations in the data, for example when looking at social class, gender and ethnicity. There are a wide variety of approaches when it comes to blogs, for example blogs can be both quantative and qualitative, this enables the researcher to acess a wide range of data and sources. There are practical, theoretical and ethical problems when it comes to using blogs as a form of social research, however the main argument with the use of blogs is the public- private debate. This is a question of has the writer of the blog written their blog for public use or is it private and restricted, therefore this poses many ethical questions. The theorist Hookway states that many blogs are "personal not private" (Hookway 2008:105) therefore people have written them with the intention to be seen.





Reference List

• FUREDI, F. (2004). Therapy culture: cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age. London, Routledge.
• Hookway, N. (2008) "Entering the blogosphere" some strategies for using blogs in social research 'Qualitative research 8 (1) 91-113

• MILLS, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York, Oxford University Press.

   •WAKEFORD, N. and Cohen, K. (2008) ‘Fieldnotes in Public: Using Blogs for Research’, in N. Fielding, R. M. Lee & G. Blank (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, pp 307-326. London: SAGE.